Like Fresh Torture
by azkabcn
Summary: When Regina learns that Daniel is indeed in the Underworld, she is ecstatic yet nervous to find him. Robin reminds her that it's normal for this to happen; Daniel is her first love, after all. But she learns that she is his unfinished business and so she has an unexpected person to thank. AU one-shot.


_'Thank you for coming,' I told Snow as we walked._

 _'Of course,' she replied, walking ahead. 'Couldn't let you do this alone.'_

 _She suddenly stopped. 'Regina. I found him.'_

 _I couldn't look. I screwed my eyes shut tight. What if it was tipped? I couldn't miss the chance to see him, even if he were in a better place. Or worse, what if it was cracked?_

 _'It's okay. Regina, look.'_

 _I peered out of one eye, nervous about what I'd see. But when I looked, a massive smile spread across my face._

 _It was still standing straight, in one piece._

 _'He's still here,' I gasped. 'I can see him one last time.'_

 _Snow smiled. 'Yes. You can.'_

* * *

It had been two days since I went searching for Daniel's grave. Two days of knowing he was here. Two days of agony.

Even though I knew nothing could become of us now – he was dead and I had Robin – there was still a part of me that loved him with everything.

I walked with Robin out of the Blind Witch's Café, my arm looped through his. I hadn't told him about going to find Daniel's grave, and I knew that it would come back to bite me in the butt.

'Something's bothering you, Regina,' Robin stated as we walked, and I knew I was busted.

'No,' I said slowly. 'I'm fine.'

'You're not,' he said as a matter of fact. 'You can tell me anything, you know.'

I sighed. 'Yeah. That's exactly what I'm afraid of,' I told him.

Robin stopped walking. 'What do you mean?'

I turned to face him and the worried look on his face made me want to vomit.

'I mean,' I started. I put my hands on his shoulders. 'I need to tell you something and… you might get angry with me.'

He smiled. 'I can never get angry with you, Regina.'

I smiled back, though the churning in my stomach was still painstakingly evident. 'I… went to see if I could find Daniel's grave,' I whispered.

'Okay. Did you find it?' he asked. He clasped his hands around my wrists, in a mirror image of Daniel.

'I did, and he's… he's still here, Robin.'

'That's a good thing, isn't it?' he asked.

'Yes but… I have you now. I don't know why I'm getting so worked up about this.' I shook my head.

'Look,' Robin said softly. 'Daniel is your very first love. Of course you're going to be nervous about seeing him, even if he is dead.' He finished with a smile, and it was contagious.

'Don't you care?' I asked. At his raised eyebrow, I rectified my question. 'I mean, doesn't it bother you that I'm getting so worked up about my ex?'

Robin smiled again. 'Oh, Regina. I know I can't compete with the man who first held your heart. I know I can never be number one and that's okay with me. As long as you're happy, I'm happy.'

I beamed and closed the distance between us in a kiss, Robin's arms settling around my shoulders. When we parted we stayed in the hug for a second before I stepped back, interlacing our fingers. 'Thank you for understanding, Robin.'

'That's exactly what I do, Regina. I understand.'

I smiled, going to hug him again before I heard something. Or rather, some _one_.

'Regina?'

I turned instantly, and who I saw made my heart ache.

Daniel was standing about five metres away from us, in his stable clothes, hands in his pockets. I stepped out of Robin's hold and turned to face him.

I sucked in a breath, as the memories of our time together and his death flooded my brain and heart. 'Daniel,' I whispered as my mouth fell open.

It didn't take two seconds for me to start running and for him to sweep me up into his arms. I breathed in his oh so familiar smell, the distinct scent of hay that I had grown to love. I looked at him, my eyes filling with tears. I fell against him, weeping.

He tightened his hold on me and suddenly it was just the two of us against the rest of the world.

I heard him whisper, 'Regina look at me,' and I had no choice but to comply. I turned to face him, tears still streaming down my face. 'How are you here?'

I sniffed. 'I'm—I'm not dead, I'm just here to save a friend.'

'Oh thank goodness.' He hugged me again and I felt him relaxing.

'I'm so happy to see you again,' I breathed.

'Me too,' he replied. Then he captured my lips with his.

His hands wove themselves into my hair, the way they used to thirty years ago. And I was going to respond to his kiss before I remembered.

 _Robin was standing behind me. And he was watching me kiss my ex-boyfriend._

Reluctantly, I broke our kiss, stepping away. 'I'm sorry,' I told Daniel, lowering my eyes. 'I can't.'

'Have you found someone else, Regina?' he asked, reading between the lines.

I nodded. 'He's here with me.'

I turned to face Robin, rather surprised to see a smile on his face. Snow had come to stand beside him, waiting.

I started walking up to Robin and Snow, hearing Daniel's footsteps behind me. When I reached them, Snow smiled encouragingly at me and I smiled back weakly.

'Daniel, this—this is Robin Hood and Snow White. Robin, this is Daniel. Colter.'

Snow and Robin looked at each other and Robin nodded. 'Daniel, I am so, _so_ sorry,' Snow started saying. 'I didn't know Cora would—'

Daniel put his hand up, silencing her. 'Snow, you were a child,' he told her. 'You did what you thought was the right thing to do. It's okay.'

I smiled. 'At least one of us understands that,' I said, and Snow, Robin and I began laughing.

Daniel looked on, confused. 'What?' he repeated over and over.

When the laughter had died down into giggles, Snow managed to explain. 'Your ex-girlfriend here wanted revenge. And she did that by becoming the Evil Queen.'

Daniel laughed. 'Evil Queen, huh? Would've liked to see that.'

'No,' I told him, my face aching from smiling too much. 'You really wouldn't. It was ugly.'

'Right.'

I suddenly realised something. 'Daniel, if you already forgave Snow,' I started. 'Why are you here? What's your unfinished business?'

He smiled and glanced at Robin. 'Making sure you're happy.'

My mouthed formed a silent 'o'. Had he waited all this time for me?

'When Dr Frankenstein revived me, you told me you couldn't lose me because you loved me. I told you to love again. I knew I couldn't move on without seeing you one last time.'

'But that—that could've been years! If Hook hadn't died, I wouldn't even be here now!'

He took my hands, smiling. 'And I would've gladly waited hundreds, thousands of years to see you, to make sure you lived the rest of your life happy.'

I smiled, my eyes brimming with tears.

'Hey,' Daniel whispered, wiping my tears away. 'It's okay. You picked yourself out a nice guy. You're happy. And that's all I need to know.' He turned to Robin and smiled. 'I'm glad she found you. Thank you for keeping her happy.'

Robin smiled back. 'It's nice to finally see who I'm competing against,' he joked. 'But seriously, I love her. Keeping her happy is my top priority.'

I glanced at Snow, and we smiled.

'I think it's time, Regina,' Daniel announced. 'Time for me to move on.'

I smiled. 'Okay,' I agreed.

Daniel turned to Robin again. 'Robin, I'm sorry. I just need to do this one last time.'

With that, he held my cheeks and pressed his lips to mine. I froze, unsure what to do. But as soon as it happened, it was over and Daniel had wrapped his arms around me in a hug. 'I love you, Regina,' he whispered.

Then he looked at Snow. 'I forgive you, Snow White. Remember that,' he said as he laid a hand on her shoulder.

'And Robin, I'm glad I got to meet the man keeping my love happy. If I can't have her, I'm glad you can. It was good to meet you, Mr Hood.' He extended his hand.

'Likewise, Mr Colter.' Robin shook his hand.

And that was it. Daniel was going to move on.

* * *

We sat in the Underworld's version of Blanchard Loft: Robin, Snow, David, Henry, Emma, Hook and I around the table.

I had said goodbye to Daniel and he had moved on to a better place. I should have been happy but I wasn't.

And I knew I couldn't be until I said something. I turned to Hook, who was sitting back in his chair, silent. 'Hook, I need to say something.'

'And what's that, Regina?' he asked, looking up at me, wonder in his eyes.

'I… realise you might take this the wrong way and I'm sorry but… I'm glad you came here.'

He raised an eyebrow. 'What's that supposed to mean?' he asked, his voice filled with scorn.

'I don't mean that I'm glad you died,' I hurriedly said. 'I mean I'm glad we came here to save you. If we hadn't, then someone I really care about wouldn't have moved on.'

'Is that the Daniel dude?' he asked.

'Yeah. Thank you, Killian.'

He smirked, nodding. 'I'm glad my death helped _someone_ at least.'

I smiled at him, resisting the urge to shake my head. After saying that, I could finally be at peace knowing that Daniel was happy. And that he knew _I_ was happy.

I sat back in my chair and caught Snow's eye. I smiled at her, knowing that she was forgiven by both Daniel and I. Robin took my hand and squeezed and I felt a further warm sense of happiness.

Daniel was right.

My family was happy and that was all that mattered.

* * *

 **So. I've been wanting to write this one-shot ever since I realised that Daniel had moved on in the show. And I thought: that isn't fair. So I pumped out this little AU. I was going to do it a lot earlier but then I watched Robin die and I couldn't bring myself to write anything in which he was alive.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, please leave a review. I'd love to know what you thought of this!**


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